Time for Romney to reframe the race

‘Politics is motion,” John Sears, Ronald Reagan’s embattled campaign manager, was fond of saying. Sears may have been wrong about some things, but on this point he was indisputably correct.

It seems clear that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was “ vacationing” in New Hampshire all last week because his campaign is stymied and does not know what to do next.

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Sending out Ann Romney to go after President Barack Obama was a mistake. She is one of the campaign’s best assets — but to use her in a cynical attack to say that Obama’s campaign wanted to “ kill” her husband wasted precious goodwill.

Still, it would be a mistake to jettison the entire Romney campaign staff, as some are now advocating. By hook and by other means, it helped get Romney the nomination. Besides, most campaign operatives are interchangeable. But it would be wise, as has been suggested, to layer in some seasoned hands from past winning campaigns. It might also be helpful to bring in serious policy people.

Mark Twain used to say “Wagner’s music is better than it sounds.” Twain never saw the Romney campaign — if he had, he would most likely make the opposite assessment. Influential conservative publications and individuals, like Rupert Murdoch, owner of Fox News, have correctly identified the problem that Romney’s campaign is simply overmatched by Obama’s.

Part of Romney’s difficulty is that he is not always regarded as a serious individual. It would help if he started meeting regularly with GOP wise men like Ed Meese and James Baker, or important conservative and tea party leaders.

Reagan had the same perception problem in 1980 between the primaries and the convention. His campaign started to load up his plane with Henry Kissinger, Howard Baker, Ann Armstrong and others regarded as authorities by the Fourth Estate. He also met with New York Mayor Ed Koch. It helped convince the media — and the public — of Reagan’s seriousness and self-confidence.

Of more immediate concern is Romney’s tenuous hold over the GOP. He is now the weakest presumptive nominee since Gerald Ford in 1976 — and Ford had incumbency to help cloak his faults and rope in wobbly delegates. Romney has none of the trappings of power to help him seize control of the convention. So he needs to do so with persuasion.

Several hundred renegade delegates now support Rep. Ron Paul, former Sen. Rick Santorum and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. They have the votes to raise havoc at the convention, introducing amendments from the floor for consideration. The national media will very likely be only too obliging to give them maximum attention, showcasing the divisions in the GOP.

What Romney needs to do is anticipate this by planning ahead — winning their hearts and minds long before this happens. He needs to get out on the road for a series of long, thoughtful policy speeches at key Republican presidential libraries and other places of GOP importance.

Romney could go to Abilene, Kan., for a speech on Dwight Eisenhower’s warning about the problematic growth of the military industrial complex — something that would resonate with conservatives today. He should go to the Bush Library in College Station, Texas, to talk about duty to country; to the Ford Library to speak on ethics; and to the Reagan Library to give a speech on principles.